Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Summary: Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting–or stealing–whatever they want. No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale’s family, all bets are off when money is on the line. When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there’s no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won’t let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother’s will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company’s fortune. So instead of being the heir–this time, Hale might be the mark. Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt. To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she’s willing to save her boyfriend’s company if it means losing the boy.

Reviewer’s Note: For those of you who haven’t noticed, my reviews tend to reflect the book. For more serious books, I tend to write more serious reviews. And sometimes, a silly book like Perfect Scoundrels comes along and what you get instead is the following…

Dear Ally Carter super fan who used the old ‘I need it for my summer reading assignment’ excuse to buy the hardcover of Uncommon Criminals and then actually did your book report on Uncommon Criminals (you know who you are):

There are two ways I could do this review. I could claim I’ve always been an Ally Carter fan and proceed straight to the animated gif spam, but that would be a lie. Plus, as you know, that’s not really my style; I’m far more comfortable expressing myself with the written word than a bunch of snarky images. Or, I could give you a bunch of pithy, crowd pleasing quotes like ‘Perfect Scoundrels is the best Ally Carter ever!’ or ‘Ally Carter has distilled rappelling off tall buildings, breaking and entering the world’s most secure locations, and looking good while doing it into an art form!’ and that at least would be truthful. So even if I don’t share your overall enthusiasm for Ally Carter’s books and will continue to insist the first two Heist Societies weren’t that good, please get off my case because I’ll man up and admit Perfect Scoundrels is a pretty good book. Just stop bothering me until after the next Gallagher Girls comes out. I mean it.

Ok, so you want to hear me sing the praises of this book some more before you’ll leave me alone? Fine. Just don’t be mad with some of my points. Like, you know what the first two books were missing? Character. Yeah, I know Katarina Bishop is a cat burglar, and kind of an awesome one at that, and she gets two love interests, one the supposedly amazing billionaire Hale who just follows her around helping her steal stuff, and the other Nick, who’s kind of lame, but I’m just tired of you going on about ‘Hale this’ and ‘Hale that’ that I decided to root for Nick, first out of spite, but then because I ended up genuinely liking the character because he at least wasn’t a total Marty Stu, and then of course Ally Carter had to Josh him, but that’s neither here nor there. Because even if you may insist otherwise, I swear the real reason the first two books fell flat for me is because even though Kat is cute and her antics amusing the whole Kat and Hale angle went over my head (read: bored the crap out of me) and the actual plot wasn’t that good no matter how ‘incredible’ (read: cutesy) Carter made breaking into a highly secure museum sound. And there were too many darn time jumps that made following the whole heist kinda hard! And the second one with the Cleopatra Emerald was even worse! Ahem. My apologies.

Anyway, so yeah, I’ll admit I was skeptical about a Hale centric book, but, ok, sure, it totally works. (No, don’t jump up and down while I’m saying that. And gimme that pillow dammit!) Why? Perfect Scoundrels is a much better book because Carter does something I didn’t think she’d do. Character development! That makes Hale, yes, interesting! I’ve always wondered why a billionaire would help a cat burglar rob people, throwing in free flights on his private jet no less, but the Prologue answers that, and is kinda beautifully written to boot. Yeah, Carter’s writing is always something (read: I can see why you enjoy her books even if I’m less than impressed by the plots), but most of the time it leans more towards cute spy stuff than substantive, this book and the ending of I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You / beginning of Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy aside. But yes, I liked the reveals about Hale’s past, how the heist this time really worked for Hale’s character development, how Kat and Hale’s relationship progressed as a result, and even how Kat’s family comes together to pull it off in the end that really shows Hale becoming part of her family, her world, as well.

Of course, it helps too that this was the most interesting heist so far. Maybe it’s because it’s Hale’s company on the line this time, or maybe it’s because this plot is way different than the formula that’s been followed for the last two books now, but I liked it. Instead of the identifying the target, planning the heist, culminating in the actual crime plot as usual, this time there are actually twists and turns throughout, a couple of different objectives at different stages of the book, and a plot that’s not driven nearly by the single minded linearness that made Uncommon Criminals such a dull experience (read: disguising the motives of the villain doesn’t work if I predict it, I really need more to chew on than just that). Am I impressed that Nick gets Joshed again or that a couple of things like what happens to Uncle Eddie, the identity of Ms. Montenegro, or Natalie’s role in the whole thing are still really obvious? No, but I’ll let them slide for Scooter. Let’s dispense with the odd time jumps though.